Baldur Bjarnason

"Ars Technica Fires Reporter After AI Controversy Involving Fabricated Quotes"

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ars-technica-fires-reporter-ai-quotes

Seeing a lot of people assume that this reporter got fired for making one mistake during a sick day, something most people could see themselves doing

I think it's safe to assume that the reporter's version of events downplayed his culpability to a substantial degree

Ars Technica Fires Reporter After AI Controversy Involving Fabricated Quotes

Ars Technica has fired senior AI reporter Benj Edwards following an outrage-sparking controversy involving AI-fabricated quotes.

Futurism
Mar 3 at 4:10pmWeb
Show threadBaldur BjarnasonMar 3
You also need to consider that the reporter in question is one of the more credulous pro-"AI" reporters around and whose coverage has been so PR-laden in the past that I know people who stopped reading Ars Technica specifically because of him (and maybe their super pro-Musk rocketry reporter).
Show threadCraig PMar 3
@baldur I think it's become extremely clear that when someone "cheats" so casually and blatantly, they do it habitually. Anyone that says they think this is a one-off is fooling themselves or lying.
Show threadAnthonyMar 3
@[email protected] Count me among those who stopped reading because of their AI industry stenography.
Show threadCory BirdsongMar 3
@baldur I have to wonder if this is part of the equation (I hope it was!)
Show threadBaldur BjarnasonMar 3
@cbirdsong My guess would be that a very pro-"AI" reporter might have used LLM tools more than he let on to his readers or his employer.
Show threadMonokerosMar 3
@baldur @cbirdsong He *did* let on. Check out the interview linked somewhere in that Ars thread. He used/uses AI tools routinely to compensate for long covid. This was inevitable.
Show threadCory BirdsongMar 3
@monokeros got a link handy? That thread is 47 pages long
Show threadMonokerosMar 4

@cbirdsong Found it:
https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/editor%E2%80%99s-note-retraction-of-article-containing-fabricated-quotations.1511671/post-44253310

So Ars had actual knowledge of his AI use in reporting and continued to use it, no matter what they say their policy says.

Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

We are reinforcing our editorial standards following this incident. See full article...

Ars OpenForum
Show threadGod Emperor of MastodonMar 3

@baldur This may go deeper. He was their AI reporter, so he may simply got high on ai...

https://arstechnica.com/author/benjedwards/

Author: Benj Edwards

Benj Edwards was a reporter at Ars Technica, where he covered artificial intelligence and technology history. His previous work appeared in outlets including The Atlantic, Fast Company, PCMag, PCWorld...

Ars Technica
Show threadraphaelMar 3
@mms @baldur yeah, it has long been noted among readers that he is both their AI guy, and writes ridiculously credulous articles that just blindly go along with everything the AI companies say, or will use loaded language like anthropomorphisation without a gram of reflection.
Show threadnabeardsMar 3
@baldur some good news!!
Show thread🔥Cassandra🔥Mar 3
@baldur Oh, good! I wasn’t expecting accountability here.
Show thread🔥Cassandra🔥Mar 3
@baldur I don’t know why you’d need a tool to “extract relevant verbatim source material” anyway. How long and long ago was the interview? The interviewer has no idea what the interviewee said? Took no notes, can’t listen back at 2X?
Show threadMonokerosMar 3
@Cassandra @baldur Oh there was no interview. It is much funnier and stupider than that. These were quotes "from" a website.